Thursday • March 28
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What Happened to Network News?
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With the rise of the internet and cable TV, the way we get our news has certainly changed. But has it changed for the better? Well compare and contrast the network news of today to its golden age with Emmy-award winning journalist Roger Mudd. An expert also weighs in on the performance of todays press. Then - weve seen the headlines about the states raid on the Texas YFZ Ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But what do we really know about the inner workings of this sect? A woman who fled the FLDS and a Mormon Theology expert share their insights.
Episode Segments:
 
The Glory Days of Television News
Longtime CBS and NBC news anchor Roger Mudd has authored the new book The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News. He joins Dave to discuss his book and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of todays network news. He also discusses his relationship with Dan Rather and whether or not he believes there is a liberal bias in todays news.
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Grading Todays News
Tom Rosenstiel is Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a non-partisan research organization that studies the performance of the press. Tom talks about the performance of todays network news, and how its structure has changed in recent years. He also talks about the perceptions of both liberal bias, and corporate bias.
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Alternative Media
Tom discusses blogs and if he considers them to be true news sources. He also talks about the medias failure in the run up to the Iraq War, and the reasons behind that failure, as well as what he expects to see in the reporting of the Presidential Campaign.
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Behind the FLDS
Scott Gordon is President of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, an organization that defends Mormon theology. Scott explains the origins of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and discusses some of their beliefs and practices. He also gives some background on their prophet Warren Jeffs and how he came into power.
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Escaping the FDLS
Elissa Wall is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs. Wall's memoir is Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs," is a New York Times Best-seller. She tells Dave about her life on the FLDS compound, and the reasons that led to her departure.
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Life After FDLS
Elissa discusses how her life has changed since leaving the FLDS, and why she believes member choose to stay with the sect.
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Links to Related Websites:
The Place To Be
Roger Mudd, one of the leading figures in broadcast news, looks back with wit and wisdom on the period in the 1960s and 70s when CBS' Washington bureau was instrumental in setting the agenda at home and abroad on issues like Vietnam, civil rights and Watergate.

Stolen Innocence
In this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice: sect leader Warren Jeffs. More than a tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode
Roger Mudd
Roger Mudd was the documentary host and correspondent for The History Channel from 1995 until he retired in 2004. Between 1961 to 1992, he was a Washington correspondent for CBS News, NBC News and the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS. He won the George Foster Peabody award for "The Selling of the Pentagon" in 1970 and for "Teddy" in 1979 and the Barone Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting in 1990. Between 1992 and 1996, he was a visiting professor of politics and the press at Princeton University and at Washington & Lee University. Mudd graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1950 and from the University of North Carolina in 1953 with a degree in history. He enlisted in the US Army in 1945 and served with the 2nd Armored Division. Mudd is married to the former E. J. Spears of Richmond, Virginia. They have four children, eleven grandchildren and have lived in McLean, Virginia for 35 years.

Click Here to Visit His Website

 
Tom Rosenstiel
Tom Rosenstiel designed the Project for Excellence in Journalism and directs its activities. He also serves as vice chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, an initiative engaged in conducting a national conversation among journalists about standards and values. A journalist for more than 20 years, he is a former media critic for the Los Angeles Times and chief congressional correspondent for Newsweek magazine. He is the editor and principal author of PEJ’s Annual Report on the State of the News Media, a comprehensive report on the health of American journalism. He also directs the Project's content analysis reports on the performance of the press. Rosenstiel is also co-author of the CCJ's "Traveling Curriculum," an ongoing education program that since 2001 has trained more than 6,000 journalists in print, TV and online newsrooms nationwide. His writing also has appeared in such publications as Esquire, The New Republic, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review and The Washington Monthly.



 
Elissa Wall
Elissa Wall is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) who was forced into marriage at age fourteen. She left the FLDS at age eighteen and currently resides in Utah with her two children and her husband, Lamont.